We recently connected with Julie Dion and have shared our conversation below.

Julie, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

Being a full service marketing company means that we not only manage our own social media, but we also manage many of our clients’ social media, too.

Our firm was incorporated in 2009 before companies were involved in social media. By 2012, most companies at least had a Facebook page. Having our own social media pages meant that we could “practice” our strategies with Dion’s social media before rolling out the ideas to our clients. But being a new agency when social media was born was a very fortunate thing for us. We learned as we went organically, and organic content is typically what is most engaging.

For any business that does their own social media or hires a firm to to it for them, establishing your brand persona is the first step. This includes your social media voice and how it is presented consistently to customers, and what it can offer. Building a brand persona is just a part of a complete online presence strategy. Your content is king. It should include a balance of posts, with promotional content being the lowest on the totem pole, even if it is the most important information to communicate to potential customers.

Julie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Ever since I was a little girl I have been attracted to advertising. From TV and radio commercials to advertisements in newspapers and magazines, I was in tune with the ads practically more than the content. I could recite all of the popular jingles and even knew what was on sale at the grocery store. Now I am a hands-on business owner of a boutique marketing company that provides traditional and digital advertising solutions along with other services including public relations and handling online assets such as social media and website management. Not only do I enjoy the day-to-day activities surrounding running a business, but I really enjoy what we do and how we help other companies. It is all about the ability to provide clear and effective communications and the importance of setting our clients apart from their competition through strategic advertising campaigns.

Companies and organizations mostly come to us when they are looking for help growing their business through brand awareness, revenue and volume growth. What we do is listen to their needs, help them define their goals and then come up with a strategy to achieve them. We execute the plan, monitor and report. It is very organic and cyclical by continuing to be heavily involved in a campaign once it has launched in order to maximize the results it can achieve.

How did you build your audience on social media?

We started just like everyone else with zero followers. It was early on when everyone was learning. I think we have tried everything from proposing questions, taking polls, posting blogs to “Enter to Win” contests that prompted online users to like our page and share in order to win something. We’ve given away our own services as well as some community support giveaways during the pandemic. Those did really well, not just because there was a prize attached, but because of the community support tie-in that was especially so important during the pandemic when businesses were struggling.

For new companies just starting out, showing “proof of life” on social media is a great idea and so exciting! What I mean by that is if a business is building a new location, posting video and photos of progress is something people want to see. As soon as a new business gets a good review on Google, posting the review will show potential customers what others think.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

It was when we were first starting out and would literally do anything to win an account. I’ll never forget when the CMO of a national publishing company contacted us out of the blue and and asked if I was interested on bidding on a marketing contract for their large chain of community newspapers.

They found us online by searching for marketing companies which made me ecstatic! If our search engine optimization (SEO) efforts could get us noticed from a national brand headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, it helped me gain the confidence of knowing that our SEO efforts are just as likely as effective for our clients who we offer that service to.

Having a background in newspaper advertising working at a daily publication straight of college for several years, I knew the product well and its ongoing struggle with shrinking circulation numbers. This was at a time when newspaper subscription rates were starting to dive when people started getting their news online instead of print. I already had insights first-hand that helped us develop a compelling plan.

After submitting our proposal, we were one of three companies invited to come present our ideas to the Board of Directors. There was only 4 of us at Dion Marketing at that time, and the company couldn’t afford to fly to Alabama, much less take a couple of days away from the office and the travel expense, not to mention make much of an investment in our presentation materials.

Two large, established agencies with multiple offices and decades of experience pitching advertising campaigns in a board room of executives was our competition. This was our first time, so we knew we had to make a splash, and take a risk. Spending anything extra than on rent, payroll and the mere essentials to run a small business was a little overwhelming, but with a husband encouraging me to go for it, I made up my mind that was exactly what we were going to do. So the team packed up our bags and drove 6 hours to make our first major in-person presentation.

The theme of our campaign revolved around a Dalmatian, so we ended up investing a little more by purchasing a full-sized Dalmatian costume and a full-sized stuffed Dalmatian dog. I’ll never forget the day I decided to do that. I really had to make up my mind that it would be okay if we didn’t win the account.

When it was time to present, our over-the-top efforts of having Spot the Dog enter the room with his newspaper delivery that we mocked up as “The Dion Daily,” had the headline “Dion Marketing Wins Newspaper Ad Account!” was all worth it when I saw the executives’ faces light up. At the end of our presentation when we presented them with the stuffed dog, I knew we would win. We not only highlighted how creative we can be, but the content of our presentation was also “spot” on!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dionmarketing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dionmarketing/
• Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/dionmarketing/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DionMarketing/feed